PRIME Minister James Marape has rebuked former prime minister Peter O’Neill for thinking he has been singled out as the target of the commission of inquiry in to the Union Bank of Switzerland (UBS) loan.
He said O’Neill was missing the point as the inquiry was not about him alone but included all the individuals, companies, banks and entities involved in the alleged misuse of more than K3bn belonging to PNG.
O’Neill had expressed his concern and disappointment that the K30 million taxpayer-funded UBS Commission of Inquiry was politicised.
“Marape has sought to politicise what corporate greed is using taxpayers’ funds in mere political theatre rather than going after those who were beneficiaries of the UBS transaction,” he said.
O’Neill denied any wrongdoing and said the inquiry had found no evidence that he had benefited from the UBS loan and Oil Search deal.
However Marape said since the 1980s, major corporations have been preying on the gullibility of leaders to enter deals that are largely in the corporation’s favour.
He said in the UBS deal, the then-Oil Search managing director on the 28th of February, 2014 had announced that the State would buy 10.01% of the company and the National Executive Council signed the deal a week later on March 6.
“These transactions allowed Oil Search to buy a parcel of the now Papua LNG using the country’s money (over $900m) through founding from the UBS loan that was funneled to a one-man company called PAC LNG,” Marape said.
“When I set up the inquiry, interestingly Oil Search sold out to Santos and around six senior UBS advisers resigned from the Union Bank.
“So it is not about one person; we are following the money trail to arrest those who benefited from this bad deal.”
The Prime Minister said police and State lawyers were working on the inquiry’s findings but there were external forces at play hindering the implementation of the COI report.
He said as long as he is in government, the country’s reputation will not be misused by any individual or entity for their own benefit.
